What are you reading? (August 2023)

Death’s End, which is part of the Three Body Problem series by Cixin Liu

Just bought Dune from a second hand store, never read it. Gonna start that soon!

Dune and House of Leaves

Anderzej Sapkowski’s The Last Wish.

I recently finished the 7th book in the Wheel of Time series, A Crown of Swords. I am currently contemplating whether to start book 8 or read something else to not get burned out. A Crown of Swords is the first book in the series I did not enjoy that much.

Just finished the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Liu a couple days ago...it's reminded me of how mind-blowing and mind-expanding sci-fi can be. It's an incredibly bleak and yet somehow still hopeful series and aside from issues with how Liu handles characters, I can't wait to re-read it after I've had some time to digest the ideas in it. Definitely recommend if you like big ideas in sci-fi and can deal with some iffy character writing.

Friend's bookclub has been working through The Locked Tomb trilogy which has been fun (both to read and to watch other people encounter).

Outside of that, I've been slowly working my way through The Knot Book (about mathematical topology, not kinky stuff), a book about "The Shambhala guide to Sufism", and "Inside Scientology".

I've been going through library books trying to find something at least somewhat straightforward about the modern Sufis and their beliefs/texts/rituals, but all the books I've encountered so far seem to be way more concerned with the historical lens of "Westerners through the centuries trying to grapple with the concept of Sufism and disagreeing with each other about what it is".

'glyph' by Percival Everett (who has rapidly become one of my favorite authors).

I'm currently reading Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper, which is the first book in the Dark is Rising sequence.

I first read this book years ago, and what has stuck me ever since was the vivid use of imagery by Cooper. I've also watched the movie, but it's the book that has always stuck with me.

Right now I am reading An Urban History Of China by John Lincoln. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I am enjoying reading it, since I am a sucker for anything history.

I've started Cyteen by CJ Cherryh - I'm the type of person that reads dozens of books at once but everything's else gone on hold for Cyteen.

Amazing so far but can't shake the feeling that I've read the plot in the beginning before. I think Cyteen is too long / complex for me to have read it as a teen and forgotten about it, but I have read the Alliance/Union series in pub order up to it. Is there another book in the series with clones that includes a dinner followed by + a river boat journey?

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat.

I never really was that great at cooking, but I enjoy it and want to improve.

I'm very nearly done with 'The Precipice' by Ben Bova. Next is either 'Rock Rats' in the same series, or I start the Cosmere series by Brandon Sanderson. I've read all the Mistborn novels, and they're fantastic.

Sanderson writes books faster than I can read, so it's kind of daunting. Ben Bova is already dead, so I don't have the same problem with him.

The Foundation series by Azimov. I read it when I was a teenager and remembered very little. It's a lot scarier today.

«Elsewhere, Perhaps» - Amos Oz (1966).

About to dive into The Tin Drum again. Last read it 30 years ago...

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/33726/first-contact

First Contact by Ralts Bloodthorne (no relation)

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Eight Thousand Years after the Glassing of Earth, Terran Descent Humanity has largely become a post-scarcity society based on consent and enjoying life. With the discovery of another ancient race beyond the "Great Gulf", events and history collide to draw the Terran Confederacy into war against a hundred million year old empire that has always won and believes it always will. With allies and enemies of multiple species, the Orion Galactic Arm Spur will be wracked by warfare the likes of which have not been seen. Cracked, harried, wounded, and damaged, Terran Descent Humanity willfully throws itself against the universe itself.

"The universe hates you and will take away everything you love, laughing while it does so." - Terran belief.


  

I randomly picked up Ruth Ozeki's Tale for the Time Being at the library and couldn't put it down. It really was the level up of literature I have been waiting for. While it did have a few words I needed to look up, it was generally very approachable and enjoyable to get through. What I also appreciated was that even though some of the subject matter is difficult, it is not so detailed and exploitive that it created a triggering response, at least for me. I really look forward to reading more of her work. I'm shocked I had never heard of her and only bumped into this book by chance!

Fairy Tale by Stephen King. Super fun read, I love him as an author and it’s refreshing to see his style in the fantasy genre.